from the welcome-to-the-monkey-house dept

When the US Chamber of Commerce (remember: not part of the government) accused Rep. Justin Amash of supporting terrorism by trying to protect civil liberties, we pointed out just how unfair and untrue that is. But That One Guy took first place for insightful this week by going one step further:

Quite the contrary actually

Protecting civil liberties, and refusing to sacrifice the rights of the people in order to 'protect' them from terrorists isn't supporting terrorists, it's refusing to do their job for them.

When the government erodes, ignores, or destroys the rights of the people, in exchange for a temporary sense of 'safety'? That's a win for terrorists and terrorism.

When the government constantly goes on about how people need to be afraid, how it's only by giving up their rights that the government can 'protect' them? That's a win for terrorists and terrorism.

Standing up for and protecting civil liberties isn't 'supporting terrorists', but attacking and eroding civil liberties very much is.

Someone sent me a link to your Tumblr (great stuff there!) that included some images from my early work. Looking back at that time, sometimes I cringe a bit, but please understand this was 18 years ago and I was a young artist with a lot to learn.

My work has evolved considerably since then, and I invite you to have a look at some more recent comics at [here's my website - feel free to promote it].

Thanks!

All the best,
Randy Queen

For editor's choice on the insightful side, we've got two slightly cheeky but highly illustrative responses to the Hollywood astroturf group that demanded BitTorrent "take responsibility" for piracy. First, it's another comment from our top winner That One Guy, illuminating the absurdity of the claim with a little game of substitution:

'If Ford wished to prevent their vehicles from being used to facilitate automobile-based crimes, it could do something about it. The company says it’s all about technology, so how about using technology to reduce vehicle related crime?

Funny how some technology companies like Ford are always extolling the unlimited power of technology – except when it can be used to help the dealers by preventing the unauthorized use of the vehicles they sell.

I believe that Ford’s failure to publicly condemn the misuse of its vehicles – and to actually do something about it – is going to hurt the company’s efforts to build legitimate business models... just like it hurts everyone else’s.'

I think they are failing to see the true enablers of piracy. Unless the root cause is fixed, going after technology and protocols is just a wasteful whack-a-mole of futility.

We need to make the copyright holders responisble for allowing people to pirate. It is a well known fact that it is impossible to pirate works that are in the public domain. We could end piracy swiftly and permanently if certain parties would just do the responsible thing.

To get started on the funny side of things, first we stick around on that same post, where an anonymous commenter won the week with a simpler, less technical retort:

Why hasn't Hollywood taken responsibility for Michael Bay?

Next, we've got the story of photographer Jeff Gray being hounded by the police. After one commenter suggested that there may be a bit of nominative determinism singling Gray out for scrutiny, ChurchHatesTucker offered up a title for the whole affair:

50 Investigations of Gray

For editor's choice on the funny side, we'll remain in the world of photography for a moment, where everyone's favorite monkey has been innocently causing trouble again. With recent revelations from Wikimedia showing us that the battle over copyright on the now-famous simian self-portrait is far from finished, Roger Strong mused about what the future may hold:

Before this is over the monkey will exercise its "right to be forgotten."

Finally, after a New York guest house was caught trying to charge customers a fat fee for leaving negative reviews online, Rekrul masterfully maneuvered through a loophole:

"This hotel was the best place I've even stayed! I only found 2-3 semen stains on the sheets, rather than the dozen or so I've found at other hotels. The food was so good that I only got sick once and the rats were much smaller and less numerous than the last place I stayed. The only thing keeping this from being a perfect experience was that through my own stupidity, I managed to misplace my Rolex watch, wallet, laptop and camera. I'm sure the hotel will send them to me as soon as they turn up. 5 out of 5 stars!"